It is very clear that in addition to his great service to the public and religious domains of the realm and of Europe of his time, our great namesake, Saint Thomas More, remains both a stellar but also very practical prophet of cultural, spiritual and social renewal for our own century.

We have been exploring the notion that was first articulated by Arnold Toynbee as the “creative minority” over the last weeks here at the Thomas More Centre.

Creative minorities are intentional communities that, in a sense, lean into the big questions of “civilisational crisis” and change.

They do this while planting themselves firmly in lasting relationships of family, friendship, neighbourhood and faith. They seek the lasting things often in the quotidian rather than the ideological or the bureaucratic.

Our martyr and patron St Thomas modelled just this approach in his own life – his marriage, family, prayers and the sometimes rowdy happiness of his home were the source of his enormous status of intellectual, religious and cultural importance.

He represented a shining example of the synthesis between the traditions and faith of the Church and the flowering of the humanist renaissance in northern Europe. While he was studying for what was to become a rising career in common law – until the King’s displeasure and vaunting ambition of the court cut his life short – he resided in the London Charterhouse in the austere spiritual goldmine of the Carthusian life, considering a priestly vocation.

Once he decided that he could serve his King and community as well as grow in holiness as a layman, he also dug more deeply into the best learning and culture of his time.

French historian Pierre Allard writes: “When his children were old enough to get a formal education, More decided to see to their education in his home. He opened his home school as well to young relatives and children of the neighbourhood, and to handmaids and servants.”

Allard describes how St Thomas created a “home school” in his London house – in part to provide a centre in which his beloved daughters Margaret (“Meg”), Elizabeth and Cecily (along which his son John) could be guaranteed formation that pursued domestic tasks with advanced learning in music, classics, languages, scripture studies and shared prayer. St Thomas even encouraged Meg to study medical sciences – something quite unique at the time.

Thomas More was also convinced of a “high” theology of marriage, bolstered by a deeply loving and happy relationship with his first wife Jane and, at her death, with the widow Dame Alice (who is somewhat caricatured in the literary and public imagination).

Dame Alice, in fact, served as a type of manager of the home “school” – and she looked after the smooth running of hospitality and timetables.

The More family was not a “closed shop” of any kind – it was open to some of the most needy (the family managed a small almshouse) and the more prestigious people of the time, including figures such as Erasmus and Holbein.

Thomas More also had a deep understanding that the common good of the wider society was grounded in the “domestic” common good, integrity and flourishing of the family household. It is clear that the More household was a memorable centre of hospitality, learning, humour and conviviality. It was a home-ground “creative minority” – the type of base that we hope to see flourish through the TMC.

Anna Krohn OAM
Executive Director
Thomas More Centre